After 2-5 start, Dolphins still have time to turn season around
Tua Tagovailoa was in his second season when the Miami Dolphins started their 2021 campaign with a 1-7 record. They followed a seven-game skid with a seven-game winning streak and ended up 9-8.
Tagovailoa is hoping to rally the Dolphins from a similarly disappointing start this year. They're 2-5 after losing 28-27 to the Arizona Cardinals on Sunday, putting their playoff hopes in jeopardy.
"No disrespect to my other teammates (from 2021), but I'm talking about the talent that we have here (now)," Tagovailoa said. "We didn't have half that talent however many years ago. So to give that group respect, we won the next (seven) games — and I'm not saying we're going to do that or whatnot — but it is possible."
Coach Mike McDaniel called it "disappointing and frustrating" that the Dolphins improved markedly on offense but couldn't close out the Cardinals. Tagovailoa led Miami to its highest-scoring game of the season in his return from a concussion, but the Dolphins blew a 10-point lead for the second straight week.
The loss was magnified because of the situation the Dolphins put themselves in by going 1-3 while Tagovailoa was on injured reserve with a concussion, McDaniel said.
Setting aside the struggles by backup quarterbacks Tyler Huntley, Tim Boyle and Skylar Thompson, the Dolphins have been sloppy at times. Holding penalties and illegal formations have been an issue in their past few games.
Only two penalties were accepted against the Dolphins on Sunday, but a snap went over Tagovailoa's head in the third quarter, resulting in a safety. McDaniel said that ended up being the difference.
"I think it's death by a thousand paper cuts right now," fullback Alec Ingold said. "We were able to overcome so many of those situations in past years, and that's not been the case this season."
Ingold expressed optimism that it's not too late for Miami to turn its season around, even with a trip to Buffalo to face the division-leading Bills coming up this weekend.
The Dolphins have struggled for years against mobile quarterbacks like Buffalo's Josh Allen, who had four touchdown passes and one rushing score against Miami at Highmark Stadium last season.
"We just got to do a better job at our angles. Our angles were bad chasing (Kyler Murray)," linebacker Emmanuel Ogbah said. "We've got another mobile quarterback coming up. We've got to affect Josh."
Tagovailoa completed a combined 10 passes to Tyreek Hill and Jaylen Waddle for 117 of his 234 yards passing. That's a stark turnaround for the star receivers, whose production dropped when Tagovailoa was out. One game after he caught one of two targets for 8 yards, Hill had his second-best performance of the season with six catches for 72 yards.
The Dolphins gave up 300 yards passing for the first time this season, mostly because they struggled to contain Murray. He completed all four of his pass attempts for 47 yards on Arizona's final scoring drive that set up the game-winning field goal.
"It's heartbreaking because I feel like we played great defense the last few weeks," defensive tackle Calais Campbell said. "First half, we were rolling, and it's the NFL, though. It's a momentum game and Kyler made some big-time plays in big moments."
RB De'Von Achane has emerged as a top target in the pass game. His 29 catches are the second-most on the team, and he leads Miami with two receiving touchdowns. Achane had six catches for 50 yards and a 12-yard TD on Sunday. He also ran for 97 yards on 10 carries.
WR Odell Beckham Jr. was brought in during the offseason to be the third option behind Hill and Waddle but doesn't have a catch in three games. Beckham played just 11 snaps on Sunday and was not targeted, one game after having no catches on two targets in 11 snaps.
McDaniel said Jevon Holland's knee injury that he suffered in the second quarter does not appear serious and likely won't require surgery, but it's "too early to tell" on his availability this week.
The Bills are 14-2 against the Dolphins since Sean McDermott became Buffalo's coach in 2017. After their trip to Buffalo, the Dolphins have a cross-country flight for a Monday night game at the Los Angeles Rams.
